The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-22
ENGLAND.S ROYAL LINE.
RULED BY FOREIGNERS FOR MORE
THAN 900 YEARS.


From the Philadelphia Times
Queen Victoria is not a German woman. y
IN indignant Englishnlan writes ''She has
IN her veins the blood of William the Con-
queror, birthright of which any queen
might be proud
The indignant Englishman's relnonstrance
is suggestive, and it may be well to consider
on this morning of the fiftieth year of
Queen Victoria's sovereignty what this birth
right really is, and how it was transmitted
70 her majesty.
William the Conqueror was the illegiti-
mate son of Norman duke, known in his
tory as Robert the Devil, by a tanners
daughter.
His right to the English throne was that
of a freebooter
William came over the sea,
With bloody sword came he:
Cold heart and bloody hand
Now rule the English land.
William, the Conqueror, was succeeded
BY his second son, William the Red.
He was a greater rascal than his father
"Never day dawned but he rose a worse
man than he had laid down; never sun set
but he lay down worse man than he had
risen."
William |. married Matilda of Flanders,
in defiance of the prohibition of Rome,
which pronounced the marriage incestuous
Thus William H. was also by the interd;ct
of the church Legitimate. His younger
brother, Henry, who seized the crown after
the Red King was found dead in the New
Forest with the arrow of an assassin in his
breast, was also born out of lawful wedlock
by the same prohibition.
n n l..
would live and hold his lands need it were
he followed the kings will"
William H. held the lands of his kingdom
as his own, and turned his tenants into
serfs. His reign was one of vicious extrava-
gance and violent extortion.
Henry l. was a miracle of avarice.
''Those who had nothing to give" wrote
the Chronicler, were driven from their
humble dwellings, or the doors being torn
off the hinges were left open to be plundered,
Or their miserable chattels being taken
away, they were reduced to the extreme of
poverty, or in other ways afflicted and tor
mented; while against those who were
thought to possess something certain new
and imaginary offenses were alleged. when
not daring to defend themselves in a plea
against the King, they were stripped of
their property and plunged into misery"
Henry took Matilda, the daughter of King
Malcolm, of Scotland, out of convent and
married her, and then set up a harem of
mistresses, of which he was lord He died
Of gluttony.
England narrowly escaped a successor to
Henry |. more cruel even than his father.
This was his only son, William, who fire.
quently boosted that when he came to the
throne he would yoke his Saxon subjects to
the plough like horses. This was the pre-
cious young rascal who was lost in the White
ship, and of whom Mrs. Hemans wrote this
characteristic rot:
The bark that held the Prince went down;
The sweeping waves rolled on; +
Yet what was Engands glorious crown
To him that wept son
OF the father of such a sonia King who
died of too mnch lampreys-it is ludicrous
10 sing, He never smiled again"
Earl Stephen, who was the son of the
Conquerors daughter, Adele, and conse
quently Henry's nephew, seized the crown
Upon the King pushing aside the claims of
Maud Henry's daughter.
He was a usurper, but he was popular, be-
cause he was a good swordsman-the people
fought for him because he was a swash-
buckler.
Stephen was succeeded by Henry II, who
WIS UuS SOH VI Lazy mduOs Vi 11dUAild, anu
the grandson of Henry l.
Henry was the first of the Plantagenet
line
He married Eleanor of Aquitaine, no
korious courtesan, for the sake of the lands
she brought him. Among his mistresses was
the fair Rosamond Clifford, whom the vir-
tuous Queen Eleanor compelled to drink
poison.
This King was the conquerer of Ireland.
His own sons, Henry, Richard and John,
rose in arms against him. 1t twas the worthy
Eleanor who spul'red on her sons to revolt
against their alleged father.
Henry was a RECOMMENDATION he was
compelled to be one.
By the death of his elder brother, Richard
|. succeeded Henry IL.
This fellow was called Richard of the
Lion Heart.
'.We came of the devil and we shall go to
the deviln was his own description OF the
race from which he sprang.
1t cost his plundered subjects 100000 to
secure his release after his capture.
''The devil is loose; take care OF your
self" Philip of France wrote to Richards
worthy brother John, who was playing King
in England.
Richard was fatally shot by an archer
while trying to rob the Castle of Chaloz of
treasure trove that had been found on the
fields of Limousin.
Richard l. was succeeded by his brother
John.
Arthur, the son of his eldest brother Geof-
frey, was the real heir to the throne, but he
was taken prisoner by the King, who then
murdered him.
Foul as 1t is, hell itself is defiled by the
fouler presence of John,n was the highest
tribute it was possible to pay to his virtues;
l. Il. I'll. 1,NI 81